Noodle
Noodle is the official lead guitarist of Gorillaz. Background Noodle was born in Osaka, Japan on October 31, 1990. She spent a portion of her childhood in Japan as a subject of a classified Japanese super soldier project under the management of the Japanese scientist, Mr. Kyuzo. Noodle, along with 22 other children, were trained with the sole purpose of fighting as soldiers of the Japanese military and government. After the children were deemed too dangerous and unstable for combat, the project was scrapped. Mr. Kyuzo was then ordered to dispose of all possible traces of the failed experiment, as well as its participants. After killing the other 22 children, Kyuzo was reluctant in killing Noodle. Rather than killing her, Kyuzo placed her in a state of amnesia through the use of verbal commands. The phrase used to place Noodle in her state of amnesia was known as Ocean Bacon. After temporarily clearing her memory of the project, Kyuzo smuggled Noodle to the United Kingdom in a FedEx crate and falsely reported her death (along with the other 22 children) to his superiors. Noodle arrived at the doorstep of Kong Studios in 1998. Once the crate was taken inside, Noodle sprung out of the box and performed a guitar solo (which 2-D described as "200 demons screaming in Arabic. Brilliant!"). She ended her solo with a 20-foot high karate kick and saying some words in Japanese before bowing and saying the word "Noodle". This resulted in her earning the name "Noodle" (her only currently known name) and replacing Paula Cracker as the band's lead guitarist. Gorillaz Phase 1: 2000-2001 Noodle was about ten in this phase. She mainly played the guitar, but also provided vocals for the Gorillaz, most notably the track "19-2000". In numerous idents and music videos alike, it became obvious that Noodle was talented at much more than just music. She is also proficient at martial arts. During this phase, she couldn't speak English, except for a few phrases including "yeah" and "duh". Post-Phase 1 to Pre-Phase 2: 2002-2004 After the band's abrupt breakup, Noodle traveled back to Japan by herself to learn about her forgotten past. During her stay, she visited a sushi bar in Osaka where she heard a waiter tell the bar's chef that he needed an order of "Ocean Bacon". Upon hearing the phrase, Noodle simultaneously regained all memories of her previously concealed past (which included her ability to speak fluent English as well as every other known foreign language). After her sudden revelation, she returned to Kong Studios, which had fallen into a state of disrepair during the bands' absence. She also discovered that the studio had become infested with hordes of undead zombies. Using Kong's security surveillance room as a "safe house", Noodle slowly cleansed the complex of its unwanted inhabitants. During her stay at Kong Studios, Noodle laid out the concept plans for the 2005 album, Demon Days. After completely ridding the building of the zombies, Noodle embarked on a mission to reunite with her band mates. Gorillaz Phase 2: 2004-2008 This phase featured the album Demon Days, written by Noodle herself (now fifteen), which contained the song "DARE", the first song featuring Noodle doing almost everything, including instrumentals and singing. At the end of this phase, Noodle was considering leaving the band for a while, so she planned to leave after filming the final music video, "El Mañana". During the filming of the video, Noodle parachuted off the floating island from the "Feel Good Inc." video after it was gunned down by two armoured helicopters. When filming was complete, Noodle had disappeared; causing panic across the set and everyone on it, except for Murdoc. Her used parachute was found amongst the wreckage of the crash site. This caused many to believe for a while that Noodle had been killed off. These rumors of Noodle's supposed death were finally laid to rest, as Murdoc assured everyone that she survived, and they had staged the crash to get rid of Jimmy Manson, who had hidden away in the windmill, thinking he was part of a plot to get rid of Noodle and take her place with the parachute. Murdoc claimed, in the Gorillaz book ''Rise of the Ogre'', that Noodle was "off in the Maldives, just chilling out". However, in the epilogue of the book, a transcript of a radio broadcast from Noodle is printed out. Another similar radio broadcast could be heard in the basement of Kong Studios on the official Gorillaz website. Murdoc later "confessed" that Noodle was stuck in hell, but he had allegedly saved her. He was drunk at the time, so it is unknown if what he said was true or not. Gorillaz Phase 3: 2010-2012 Four years after her disappearance, Noodle embarked on her journey to reunite with her former bandmates. She was formally seen last in the "On Melancholy Hill" video, sporting a cat mask on board a cruise liner known as the M. Harriet. During the voyage, a crew member notified her that the ship was being attacked by pirates and that he was sent to escort her to the ship's lifeboats. Without speaking, Noodle opened her luggage and armed herself with a Thompson submachine gun. It's assumed that she is seeking revenge for being marked dead by Murdoc. After shooting down one of the two pirate fighter planes, Noodle was forced to abandon the M. Harriet which was sunk by a dive bomb torpedo released by the second plane. She is later seen in a life boat being lifted out of the water atop Russel Hobbs' head, who is currently in a noticeably larger physical state than usual. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9thjgHGS38kIn the cancelled Rhinestone Eyes video, she and Russel make it to Plastic Beach. Noodle later makes a brief appearance in the music video, "DoYaThing", as 2-D looks into her room. Most of her facial injuries seemed to have healed since the events of Plastic Beach. However, the house they are staying in (212 Wobble Street) is suffering foreclosure; what happens next is uncertain. Gorillaz Phase 4: 2016-2017 Days after the attack on Plastic Beach, Noodle awoke in a strange Japanese fishing village. She was nursed back to health by an old pearl diver named Chiyoko, so Noodle took a job as her apprentice to repay her kindness. One day, deep beneath the waves, she opened an unnaturally big pearl shell, and accidentally released an ancient demon from hell. Noodle learned this was Mazuu, a shape-shifting devil that could take human form. The only way to destroy it was to remove its head from its body. And so, for years, Noodle pursued Mazuu across Japan. Finally, she had tracked it down to Tokyo, where it had risen to the top of the criminal underworld. Disguised as a geisha, she infiltrated their headquarters, The Demon's Lounge. While Mazuu was distracted, she chopped off its head. Its earthly existence was over. Escaping Mazuu's sumo bodyguards, she packed herself into a box with dried fish, bottled water, and a copy of Moby Dick. Her package was addressed: West London, England - c/o Murdoc Niccals '' album cover.]] Noodle is later seen in the "Saturnz Barz" music video, wearing glasses with a pink lens on the right eye and a green one on the left. The music begins when Noodle starts to play a record in the basement of the house. She then gets attacked by a snake like monster with one eye. Later in the "Strobelite" music video she dances with 2-D while Murdoc is off doing shady business and Russel is sleeping. Phase 5: 2018-Present In the music video for "Humility", she is seen playing chess against Remi Kabaka Jr., while wearing Hello Kinky shirt. She moves a piece resulting in a checkmate, causing Remi to pull down his glasses in shock. Upon Murdoc's escape from prison, he sent Noodle to Patagonia to track down El Mierda, who he claimed was the guy in the "Strobelite" video and was responsible for framing him for smuggling. Noodle arrived in Patagonia but was surprised to find a short and very old man claiming to be El Mierda, who had never even heard of Gorillaz. After contacting the prison, she learned that Murdoc in fact had been imprisoned for parking fines, not smuggling, and he had broken out the very day he would have been released. As she vented her frustrations that Murdoc must have done this all to take attention away from 2-D, she noticed a yak approaching her in the distance. Upon closer inspection, she was shocked to realize Murdoc was tied to its back. Characterization When first conceptualizing the depiction of a guitarist for Gorillaz, Jamie was initially considering depicting her as a 17-year-old adolescent girl carrying guitars but Albarn noted that the idea was too similar to what Jamie usually draws and suggested that Jamie should create "something different". Taking Albarn's advice, Jamie came up with the first official Noodle, a 10-year-old Japanese girl. Later, Jamie drew her as 13 years old, and since then, he said he has "aged" her further. Trivia * In Phase 1, Noodle's singing vocals were by Miho Hatori, the lead singer of the Shibuya-Kei band, Cibo Matto. For "DARE," her vocals were provided by musician Roses Gabor. * Tina Weymouth has erroneously been credited as having voiced Noodle due to providing backing vocals on "19-2000." Noodle's performance in that song was purely that of Miho Hatori. * Noodle was voiced by Haruka Kuroda for Phase 1 and 2. Kuroda also provided Noodle's singing voice during the Gorillaz LIVE tour, as well as providing second guitar: she also wore a replica of Noodle's signature radio helmet, as seen in her silhouette from behind the screen. Kuroda apparently reprised the role for the 2016 Jaguar Racing commercial, based on a post from her Twitter account. * Phase 1 Noodle's radio helmet was inspired by the one worn by the character, Gum, from the 2000 Dreamcast video game, Jet Set Radio. * According to the Gorillaz MTV Cribs episode, she likes Johnny Thunders and Richie Sambora. * In 2016, she became the global ambassador for Jaguar Racing. Gallery External Links * Instagram: 私わ Noodle References Category:Characters Category:Female Characters Category:Phase 1 Characters Category:Phase 2 Characters Category:Demon Days Characters Category:Plastic Beach Characters Category:Gorillaz Member Category:Phase 4 Characters Category:Phase 1 Category:Phase 2 Category:Phase 3 Category:Phase 4 Category:Phase 3 Characters Category:Gorillaz Category:Musicians Category:Phase 5 Category:Phase 5 Characters Category:Japanese Characters Category:Active Members Category:The Now Now Characters Category:Noodle